Culture glamorizes gun violence: Letters, Oct. 12

Culture glamorizes gun violence

Once again, after a horrific attack on innocent lives, the media immediately jump to the gun control narrative. Pontificators do not even take time to mourn with the victims before calling for innocent people of America to be stripped of their Second Amendment rights, based on the actions of one madman.

On the surface, the argument seems to make sense, but interestingly, I do not have to be in the media to know that the premise that guns make us bad people is a bad premise. Has it ever occurred to anyone that the premise would more rightly be that bad people use guns? Have people stopped to reflect on the simple question of why we have so many violent people in our society?

Why do bad people use guns? No one seems to be stating the obvious. Our culture glamorizes gun violence every day. Young children play violent video games or, worse yet, watch daddy and mommy play violent video games that are almost always based on shooting a gun. Movies jam-packed with guns and violence, created by the very people who shout loudly we should have no guns, make millions every year. Popular TV programs depict gun violence toward innocents and police, and the music industry has absolutely no problem producing violent lyrics. The entertainment business that has lectured all of us for the past week on our Second Amendment rights spends billions of dollars making sure we have a violent culture.

I would submit that if the entertainment industry is serious, they should first disarm themselves. Take the guns out of movies, out of TV, out of music and out of video games. Once they’ve stopped being hypocrites, maybe we could have a discussion about guns.

Karen Peebles, Knoxville

Moral principles needed to counter greed

So here we are. Republicans have lost their minds. Only the radical right wants the Affordable Care Act killed. But Congress seems hell-bent on killing — killing moral health care for millions and inevitably killing actual people for political gain. They have forsaken morality and honor.

Perhaps Christians might realize that the far right is bereft of moral principles, that unfettered capitalism, as the pope noted, is just wrong. The ACA is Christian; those working against are, at best, confused.

Hurricanes have destroyed major areas. It is dangerous to ignore climate change. But President Donald Trump and others focus on profits, not our planet.

Trump is narcissistic. His duplicity and damage continue, while Bob Mueller pursues more evidence of dishonor and complicity.

What good might derive from this bleak time?

Perhaps Republicans will grow up. Perhaps Democrats will work toward the entire country’s well-being. Perhaps Newt Gingrich’s gerrymandering will be reversed. Perhaps Citizens United will be overturned. Perhaps moral principles will return to counter seemingly incessant greed. Perhaps Americans will take seriously what transpires in Washington. It might seem like unrelenting bad jokes, but the consequences are all too real.

Is it any wonder that the world looks upon America as a disturbing and dangerous place, where once principles and honor balanced against the worst of human nature, but now the dark side prevails?